Archives for February, 2014

I sometimes write about the relationship of the problem of evil to evolution. Darwinian natural selection is a rather unpleasant business, you see, making you wonder why a loving God would employ it as his method of creation. My experience with anti-evolutionists has been that this is a point of special concern for them. Virtually…

Upon surveying the American landscape these days, it’s hard to believe that an over-reliance on science is something we need to worry about. That hasn’t stopped some in the humanities from manufacturing the entirely fictitious threat of “scientism.” It’s a hard term to pin down, since it is seldom defined the same way twice, but…

It’s time to get caught up on a few things. The Nye/Ham debate attracted reams of commentary, some of it sensible, some not so much. Two of the sillier entries came from William Saletan over at Slate He’s very worked up about Bill Nye’s claim that creationism poses a threat to our scientific future. Saletan…

Regular blogging will resume next week, once I have finished digging out from the pile of work that didn’t get done during my recent travels. But since Sunday Chess Problem waits for nobody, I’ve picked out a tasty little morsel for you. One of my favorite motifs in chess is that of a fortress draw.…

I’ve had a chance now to watch Questioning Darwin. Twice. Short review: I liked it quite a bit. Now for the long review. I’m obviously a bit partial, since this film represents my television debut! I was one of the talking heads interviewed in the film, and it was a thrill to be in the…

Blogging is likely to be light for the next week or so. I’m gearing up for some traveling, starting at the end of the week. On Thursday I’ll leave for Chicago, to participate in the annual AAAS Conference. Over the weekend I will be in Parsippany, New Jersey to participate in the annual chess extravaganza…

Some chess problems are the equivalent of a big, Thanksgiving dinner. They have numerous variations and complex strategy. And that’s fine, if a big dinner is what you want. Sometimes, though, you just want a pleasant little amuse bouche. And that’s what we have today. The problem below was composed by William Shinkman, one of…

Philosopher John Wilkins has responded to yesterday’s post about conflicts between evolution and religion. Sadly, he so grossly distorts what I said that I don’t think he has replied very effectively. John quotes only a single short excerpt from my lengthy post: So, after all, that, let us return to Plait’s argument. He tells us…

Writing at Slate, Phil Plait has a post up about the big Ham vs. Nye debate. He gets off to a good start: Last night, science advocate Bill Nye “debated” with creationist Ken Ham, the man who runs the Creation Museum in Kentucky. I was torn about the event; I think it’s important that science…

In yesterday’s post, I remarked that the clear loser in yesterday’s debate was the intelligent design crowd. They’ve been trying for years to persuade people that anti-evolutionism has nothing–nothing–to do with blinkered religious obscurantism. And in one widely viewed, widely covered, debate Ken Ham went and messed it all up. The Discovery Institute seems to…

Among the people unimpressed with Ken Ham’s performance yesterday is televangelist, and former Republican Presidential candidate, Pat Robertson: In a video of his appearance on the 700 Club TV program, captured by Right Wing Watch, Robertson reacted to the debate between Ham and Nye by reiterating his previously stated belief that Young Earth Creationism is…

The big debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham was tonight. Click here for the video. The whole thing is close to three hours, so get comfortable if you want to watch it all. I was watching it live, but about two-thirds of the way through I kept losing the signal. I would reload the…

I had not intended to do another post on this topic so soon after the last one. But I have just read an astonishingly bad post over at Uncommon Descent that discusses this issue, and I cannot resist responding. The post is called, “Where Do We Get the Probabilities?” It was written by Winston Ewert,…

This week’s problem was composed by Mircea Manolescu in 1956. In the position below, it is white to move and mate in two. Remember that white is always moving up the board, while black is always moving down. Vertical files are labeled as a–h from left to right, while the horizontal ranks are labeled 1–8…